


Above All Expectations

by thestrangeladymalz



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-17
Updated: 2014-01-17
Packaged: 2018-01-09 01:17:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1139718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestrangeladymalz/pseuds/thestrangeladymalz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What's a girl to do when shes expecting a wolf-child by a one handed pirate with a drinking problem?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Above All Expectations

Friday nights at The Rabbit Hole started even before the curse broke, and the girls all agreed it was a necessary to keep up, even if they couldn't have it every week. Spending a few hours in a dark bar with a couple of drinks and a couple of guys, for Ruby at least, kept them all from going insane because of the day to day in Storybrooke.

Emma once said that the savior never got a day off, but no one ever said anything about spending a few hours away from it all with a drink in hand. She loved her family dearly, and things had been great since she finally agreed to become Emma Booth, but she looked forward to putting away Emma the Savior, Emma the 'Princess' and Emma the Wife and Mother for a little while.

But tonight was Thursday, and Emma found Ruby sitting alone at the girl's usual table, sipping a rather plain drink.

Emma gave a greeting nod to the bartender and walked up to Ruby, who didn't even notice Emma was there. "You know you're early? And really underdressed..."

Ruby looked up from her drink and gave a halfhearted smile. Something was wrong, Emma didn't have to look very hard to see it either. Ruby's bare face and faintly bloodshot eyes gave it away, that spark that Ruby always seemed to carry with her was duller than a butter knife. Emma pulled out a stool and sat down, whatever Ruby was holding onto was radiating like a dark storm cloud.

"We were looking for you, Mary Margaret wanted to know if you wanted to go with them to the Enchanted Forest and find Aurora and Mulan, see if they wanted to come to Storybrooke." Emma would have gone along too, but she wasn't really feeling like fighting off Ogres and monsters. She's save that for another week.

Ruby took a long sip of her drink. "Yeah, sorry. I didn't really feel like being dragged out for sniff and search duty." Ruby's bitter tone was sharp enough to cut, and it must have been the look on Emma's face that made her want to take them back. "Emma, I'm sorry. It's been a rough couple of days."

"I can tell." Emma leaned forward, her hands clasped together on the table. She was no Archie, but she wasn't one to leave her friend alone feeling like this. "Wanna tell me what's going on?"

Before Ruby looked up, she stared at her half empty drink for a few seconds. If there was anyone who could understand what she had on her mind, it was Emma. "Yeah, um. Henry grew up all right, even with you and Neal and Regina, you guys did good, you know?"

Emma's brow raised in confusion but she couldn't deny it. "Henry's a good kid, Regina raised him well, for a while there even with everything going on with Neal and Pan and... most kids don't have to go through everything he did." Even now, the kid's family tree couldn't have gotten any more complicated. He switched between staying with Emma and August and staying with Regina, and Neal was a constant in his life too. The kid was almost never alone, but he liked that.

"Do you regret anything?" Ruby asked.

"A hell of a lot." Emma was truthful in that reply. "But I can't say I argue with where we all are now. What's all this about?"

Ruby ran her hands through her hair. "I'm pregnant."

"Oh." She couldn't have stopped the surprised tone from passing her lips. Before she could say anything else, Ruby started again.

"And that bloody pirate is the dad."

Emma shouldn't have been that surprised, "You mean Killian Jones is the dad? The same Killian Jones who boarded the Jolly Roger with Regina and Mary Margaret and David who left for the Enchanted Forest for a few weeks?"

Her lips pressed into a thin line and even Ruby couldn't help but think of it as some sort of bad punch line. "That's the one."

It wasn't any secret that Ruby and Killian had been together more than once, on again off again, neither of them were good with the 'relationship' aspect, it was just a part of their nature. It wasn't strange to find them arguing about something and then seeing him press her up against the wall five minutes later, Emma had been present for one to many of those moments.

"I'm not going to tell him." Ruby's declaration cut through Emma's train of thought and made her realize she had been silent for the past few seconds. "He's not exactly dad material. The kid's probably going to get my curse, he probably doesn't want to deal with that, and I mean, who really cares, right? This is Killian Jones we are talking about. He's probably sired a whole generation of little bastards without even knowing it."

Emma reached out and touched Ruby's tightening knuckles around her glass. "If that is one thing I truly regret, it's not telling Neal. It's not being truthful to Henry about who his dad was."

"I thought you said you couldn't argue with the results?"

"That doesn't mean I wouldn't change them if I could. I hurt Neal, I hurt Henry. He spent all those years thinking neither of his parents wanted him when it was the exact opposite."

Ruby pulled her hands back and gave a heavy exasperated sigh. "But this is Killian Jones, Captain 'I haven't changed my wardrobe in 300 years'. He's good for a few things but he sure falls short on the whole responsibility aspect."

Emma bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from continuing to list his faults. "He's not my favorite person, but he does tend to surprise us every now and again. And if things are like you say, maybe he wont care. But lying to him would just make things worse. Lies may seem good to start but when the truth comes out, they become regrets.

"It's your decision, Ruby. Don't let anyone make it for you."

It took Ruby a few moments to let it all sink in, then a smile crossed her face. "It's so weird, thinking about it."

Emma returned the smile, her mind going back to when she found out about Henry, how her emotions were wild and tangled and all she could let out was frustration, anger, and fear. At the time she had felt abandoned and sitting in that jail cell, at the time it was the worst feeling in the world. At the very least, she was happy that the only worry going through Ruby's mind was whether or not to tell the pirate it was his.

"When did you find out?" Emma asked. "Does Granny know?"

Ruby took a big breath in and one hand dropped to graze against her stomach. "A few weeks ago. You can't really tell but I'll have to stay away from tight clothes if I want to keep it hidden for a while longer. So there goes half of my wardrobe. And Granny knows everything. I think she knew before I did." Ruby got up from her chair and slung her purse onto her shoulder. "Thanks Emma. The Savior strikes again."

When Ruby reached in for a hug, Emma could feel a rush of relief pass through her, like that storm cloud had been lifted. "For what it's worth, Ruby, you'll do great."

Ruby's smile was almost back to normal, and she left Emma at the table. She waited until she heard the door's bell ring before her shoulders slumped with the weight of what just came to light. A child of a pirate and a werewolf? Was the town even ready for that. "Oh, boy."

Emma's phone rang and Henry's name came up on the screen. "Hey, kid." She answered before leaving The Rabbit Hole behind.


End file.
